catherine's running efforts

I've been down with some sickness for the last couple of days - something coughy in my chest. So I only did a few miles (kept myself from walking out after just one, though, so that's something) and then sat in the steam room for a bit. I'm not as afraid of the one in American Fork because it's smaller and better lit (so I can see what's what before I go in). Tonight there were four guys in there. Two were speaking Spanish, and after a few minutes one of the other guys said, "Can you guys speak in English?" They said, "Yeah, we speak English. We're American." But not in the way I would have said it. They were really nice. Then the stupid guy said, "I just wanted to know what you were talking about." Then one of the Spanish-speakers said, "We weren't talking about you." The stupid guy said, "Oh, I know. I just don't like it when I can't understand someone." Then a Spanish-speaker said, "We were talking about taking some classes at BYU." Then the asked how long the guys had been in the country (14 and 12 years). I was embarrassed to live on the same planet as the stupid guy. Then I started talking to one of the Spanish-speakers and it turns out he has his master's degree in mechanical engineering, so we talked about grad school for a bit. Then the stupid guy and his mute friend left. 

I made a video about how there should be a girl AltraManiac. If there were, maybe her name could be A-Bound. I wanted to set it to Final Countdown but it was taking me longer to figure out than I wanted to spend in iMovie. Also there's another version where Eric doesn't pan down at the end, but I fell over a little bit in that one. 

Finally the I'm-sick-and-I'm-going-to-die feeling subsided (really it's just a cold), so today I went to the gym for 3.5 miles before dinner and 4 miles after. I didn't feel like I was going to cough out my lungs, and my legs felt nice and rested. Bonus. 

After my class (guest speaker! Didn't have to prepare a lecture!) I did the 3 mile loop around campus in the beautiful sunshine. Maybe sometime my legs will be tan. Right now the whiteness highlights the cellulite. I saw a lean runner girl on the track and committed myself to eating better. A mile later the smell of burgers at the creamery reminded me that I had only eaten a few graham crackers all day. And a half mile after that I ran past some Girl Scouts selling cookies, and I committed myself to buying some. I got the peanut butter ones, the lemon ones, and the Samoas (they're still called Samoas?). I like thin mints, but really to me they're just like the grasshopper cookies that are available all year. 

After I got home I went to the gym for 4.38 more miles. Then I came home and had bacon and a green smoothie (new blender!).  

I had all sorts of plans to make up for my two sick days. I did what I needed to do to catch up on Thursday and Friday, and then I planned to break up the 12 miles I needed on Saturday since I still wasn't feeling my best. So I went out for my first run of the day with Eric and Elliott...and then that was it. We had friends over for dinner and that went later than we had planned, and then Elliott puked when we tried to give her baby tylenol (she got the sickness I had) so I hung out with her for a bit, and then I just wasn't in the mood to drive to the Orem gym at 10:00. 

I was pretty bummed at messing up my mileage graph and giving in on my goals. I've been being really consistent and getting my runs in no matter what, and this week I just lost the game. But Eric says that what matters is whether I stick with the old (new old) pattern of consistency or if I adopt this new (old new?) pattern of less consistency. I want the consistency pattern, but when I miss days/miles I think of myself as a person who misses days/miles and it's easier to keep doing that. So I'm trying to think of myself as a person who doesn't miss days/miles but who got sick. Plus, I've been afraid to go from 30 to 35, so maybe having dropped down for a week will make it easier to take a step up.